Hey guys, Toast here, and welcome to another episode of Overwatch: How To Play. This is a series that focuses on each Overwatch character’s backstory, covers their basic mechanics and abilities, and discusses tips to play each character. Today’s focus is McCree. Jesse McCree had already established his name as a member of the notorious Deadlog Gang, a group known for trifficking in illegal weapons and military hardware through Southwest America. This made it all the more meaningful when he and his associates were busted in an Overwatch sting operation. Given his expert marksmanship, Overwatch offered him a choice between spending the remainder of his life rotting in a maximum-security prison or joining Blackwatch, an elite division of Overwatch specializing in covert ops. Despite his hesitations, McCree came to believe that he could make amends for his past by righthing worldly injustices. He was appreciative of the flixibility offered by Blackwatch, lacking much of the bureaucracy and red tape that was present in Overwatch. But soon Overwatch’s influence would wane and rogue elements within Blackwatch would seek to bring down the organization.

Having no interest in this rogue activity, McCree set off on his own and went underground. After years he resurfaced as a hired gun. While McCrees deadly talents are sought after by parties great and small, he retains his dedication to fight only for causes he believes are just. Now that we have a little backstory on McCree, lets take a look at the basic mechanics of this outlaw turned hired gun. McCree fills the Offense role in this game and has 200 health with no armor and no shield. This means that he has the potential to be taken out quickly by high-damage characters, but he has a couple tricks up his sleeve that increase his viability against these characters.

McCree’s primary weapon is the “Peacekeeper.” McCree fires off rounds from his trusty six-shooter, dealing moderate damage per shot. The shots fire at roughly 2 rounds per second and have 6 rounds in each clip, meaning that he needs to reload roughly every 3 seconds if engaged in consistent mid-long range battles. McCree does, however, have an alternate fire mode called “fan the hammer” in which he fans his mighty weapon’s hammer quickly firing off all six rounds in 1 second or, if the clip isn’t full, he fires off all remaining rounds.

This makes him capable of dealing massive burst damage at close range taking out most non-tank enemies with one well places alternate attack. McCree’s first ability is called “Combat Roll.” McCree dives in the direction in which he is currently moving, covering a moderate amount of distance and instantly reloading his Peacekeepr in the process. While the ability to cover some extra ground with this ability is nice, it is the instant reload mechanic that makes this ability clutch in many situations.

If enemies close in on you, there is the possibility they may catch you with only one or 2 shots remaining in your Peacekeeper, not nearly enough to secure a kill, however with the ability to near instantly reload your primary weapon while also displacing yourself you can really give yourself a fighting chance. Combat roll has an 8 second cooldown. McCree’s second ability is called “Flashbang.” McCree chucks a flashbang grenade that explodes shortly after leaving his hand, blinding and stunning any enemies within its area of effect. While this ability affects every enemy equally that it hits, it tends to have the most devistating impace on heroes like tracer and genji that rely heavily on their movement ability to counteract their low hitpoint pool. Combine this with your alternate fan-the-hammer fire mode and you have a reliable one-two punch to take out most heroes in the game before they have the time to react. Keep in mind, though, that a good Genji who can time his reflect well can knock this right back at you, stunning you with your own ability. Flashbang has a 10-second cooldown.

McCree’s ultimate ability is called “Deadeye.” McCree takes a few important and precious moments to aim his peacekeeper and, once ready, he draws his weapon firing one shot at each enemy within his line of sight. The shots lock on to each enemy and the weaker the targets are, the less time it takes for the lock-on to deal full damage. Once the lock-on has reached 100%, McCree will be given a guaranteed killshot. The key to this ability is to try and place yourself where the enemy team least expects you. When McCree goes into Deadeye, he proclaims for all to hear that “it’s high noon” which is an indicator to the enemy team to expect the ability to shortly follow. If they know where you are, all they have to do is break line-of-sight and they will take no damage from the ability. Lets move on to McCree’s strengths and weaknesses. McCree’s biggest strength is that he is able to deal a lot of damage both at close and long range. His individual primary shots are enough to kill most enemies at range if you hit every shot in the clip, especially if you can grab an occasional headshot and his fan-the-hammer will make quick work of most enemies at close range.

Remember that McCree essentially has 2 clips at his disposal whenever his combat roll is off cooldown, effectively doubling his potential damage sustainability. McCree is very well balanced as he has an ability that both increases maneuverability and offer added utility of near-instant reload and then, in addition to that, has a second crowd-control ability that can stun any and all enemies. This makes him extremely versitile, capable of adapting to just about any situation. McCree is at his weakest, however, when his abilities are on cooldown. Without the added maneuverability, utility and crowd control, McCree doesn’t have many tricks to pull out in a 1v1 situation and has to rely solely on his aim to try and take out enemies.

McCree also needs to be careful when in a close-range situation with Genji as his flashbang ability has the potential to be reflected at him, stunning him and likely securing Genji the kill. Now lets cover some tips and tactics to play as McCree.. The bread and butter of McCree is his flashbang-fan the hammer combo. This is his go-to attack in close range situations as flashbang allows him enough time to fire his entire clip without the enemy being able to respond. When engaging at close range, try to make sure that your flashbang is off cooldown as you will be putting yourself at an instant disadvantage if you try to engage without it.

The element of surprise is going to be your best friend when it comes to using your ultimate. You glow orangeish red when you start Deadeye so try to be in a spot where people aren’t likely to spot you instantly. Also remember that you are still susceptable to damage when you are in the ability so the less time enemies have to react the better. Keep in mind that Deadeye can be interrupted by abilities like Roadhog’s chain, an enemy McCree’s Flashbang, or Reinhardt’s charge and can be absorbed by Reinhardt’s Barrier, Winston’s shield, and D.Va’s defense matrix. Your best match-ups against enemies are going to be those with the least amount of health.

Try to target and close the gap on support and defense heroes to get the biggest bang for your buck. They are the lowest health enemies in the game and the least prepared to counter you at close range. The only one to be weary of is Mei as she has higher health than many of the defense and support characters, has a self-heal, and can freeze you and take you out fairly quickly. But that’s gonna do it for today’s video.

I hope you guys enjoyed. Let me know in the comments if you feel better equipped to play McCree now or if there are some aspects that I missed that you want to share. If you liked the video, please leave a like and if you want to see more content, please subscribe and follow me on facebook and Twitter, links in the description below. Thank you so much for watching. This is Toast and I’ll talk to you soon..